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Committee forwards law department ordinance to council, raises experience requirements for counsel roles
Summary
The ordinance committee voted to send proposed edits to Chapter 63 (Law Department, Sections 63-1 through 63-6) to the common council. Key changes raise minimum experience for deputy corporation counsel from three to five years, set corporation counsel at seven years, and state that retaining outside counsel will not be used to reduce assistant
The ordinance committee voted July 15 to forward proposed amendments to Chapter 63 (Law Department, Sections 63-1 through 63-6) to the full common council.
City staff explained the principal changes in the draft ordinance: increasing the minimum experience requirement for deputy corporation counsel from three years to five years and requiring seven years of experience for a person serving as corporation counsel. The draft also states that the retention of outside counsel will not be a basis for reducing the number of assistant corporation counsel positions currently serving. The ordinance text would also explicitly state that corporation counsel and deputy corporation counsel compensation shall be established by the common council.
Brian, a city staff member who spoke during the committee, summarized the amendments: “The changes, 1, the changes were to just kind of update the language. ... We changed a deputy corporation counsel to have 5 years of experience instead of 3. ... Any person serving as an corporation council, she'll have 7 years of experience. Those are some of them.” He also described the nonredundancy clause related to outside counsel.
Anne (committee member) moved to forward the ordinance to council. After brief discussion and confirmation that the proposed text had been distributed in the committee packet, members voted to send the ordinance to the full common council. The committee vote passed with six members in favor.
The committee recorded no public comments or emails on this item at the meeting. The packet materials showing the proposed ordinance text were available to committee members in advance; committee members confirmed the compensation provision merely codifies current practice by specifying that compensation for the corporation counsel and deputy corporation counsel is set by the common council.
The ordinance will proceed to the full common council, which must approve any final changes and adoption.
